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Common Infected
See also: Uncommon Infected Common Infected (referred to in The Parish and The Sacrifice comic as Whiskey Delta, meaning Walking Dead, by the Military) are the most frequently faced members of the Infected, and the easiest to defeat.Infected: http://www.l4d.com/l4d/infected.htm Their strength lies in the fact that they attack in groups, more commonly referred to as the Horde, sometimes as large as several dozen. While they seem capable of ignoring pain, they are as easy to kill as any normal human is. They are capable of climbing ladders and scaling objects once they find a target, and will not stop until it is dead. The default number of Infected that the Director spawns in a horde is around 30. These Infected are fast, sensitive to loud noises and movement, and able to attack in ravenous waves, as determined by the Director. They might not notice The Survivors right away, but when they do, watch out—they're fast, and it won't take long for them to close the distance. The Horde The "horde" is a term people dumb fucks who herp derp your asshole and dreill there dicks untill ur ass exploads and bright lights. usually recommended for fighting large amounts of Infected. Horde attacks also slow down players, if they do not communicate this to other players, they can easily be left behind. Darkness is your Friend The Common Infected are obviously known to be attracted by the noise of car alarms and other loud sounds caused by most Crescendo Events, however, most have not realized the flashlight can also enrage Infected. Its effect is similar to that of a pipe bomb, as the bright, flashy lights irritate them, drawing their attention to the player. Flickering the lights on and off will disturb them faster. Using this knowledge may help if two of the Survivors have their flashlights on while the others do not, causing the two "aggro men" to become focused on while their partners are able to break off the rest of the Infected. In addition, the glare of the flashlight can sometimes cause your vision to focus directly at where the flashlight is pointed at. Shutting off the flashlight during a horde is usually a good idea, and practice using the silhouettes to identify Infected. In low-light situations this can drastically improve your vision of oncoming Infected. In addition, most Left 4 Dead 2 levels are in areas with generous light, yet shining your flashlight on the Infected will still disturb them. Use natural light whenever possible to avoid Infected. Duly note that having a flashlight on whether it's day or night time and whether or not you shine it directly onto an Infected doesn't matter, it seems to aggravate them from anywhere nearby if the Flashlight is in sight. This kind of behaviour exemplifies the Common Infected's animalistic traits. Playing smart Although Common Infected are easily dispatched, it is still very important to eliminate them when possible and still pay attention to one's surroundings. In the event of a Horde or Crescendo Event, communication between players is necessary in order to avoid Special Infected ambushes and separation. Having a predetermined path and assigned combat roles can all contribute to a successful campaign or versus match. Also sometimes, when Infected are near a wall, their shadows can be seen through the walls, giving you a chance to plan or dispatch them before they become troublesome in a horde. Targeting priority The Common Infected's targeting priority is: #Thrown Pipe Bombs Survivors or Infected who are covered in Boomer bile #Thrown Bile Bombs #Survivors (Only during Hordes, Panic events, Crescendo events, Finales, or after they realize Survivors' existence). Note: If players throw Boomer Bile or a Pipe Bomb, and other players are blocking the Infected from getting there, the Infected will start attacking Survivors instead. Notice that sometimes Common Infected will not switch their target when they are already attacking a Survivor. Survivors have to shove them to make them switch targets. Infected tips When playing as the Infected in versus, you can use the Common Infected to your advantage. While the Survivors are attempting to reach the safe room, there are many ways you can exploit the Horde. Once the Survivors are occupied by the Horde, a competent Tank can defeat even the most organized Survivor team. Boomers can not only summon the Horde but also "extend" it by vomiting on the Survivors after they have dealt with the present Horde. Vomiting on downed Survivors is extremely effective and will very often result in death for the Survivor unless someone goes to help them deal with the Horde. Smokers are also effective during a Horde as they can snatch a Survivor and pull them away whilst the others are too busy fighting to help. Smokers can also be protected by the Common Infected. If you have snared a Survivor and you pull him in front of you where you can hit him, the Horde will attack along with you, killing them faster. This circle of Infected makes it harder for the Survivors to kill you. You can even do a substantial amount of damage with a Hunter before the Survivors can deal with the Horde and kill him. Other Infected will also surround the Hunter to claw at the Survivor. There are around 30 Common Infected within a Horde. During a Horde attack is the best time to work together, Special Infected need to cooperate and doing so with the Common Infected can be fatal to the Survivors. Achievements :See Main Article: Achievements Left 4 Dead Left 4 Dead 2 Notes * It should be noted that the Common Infected bear a resemblance to the "zombies" in the movie 28 Days Later, as they are not the undead monsters of traditional zombie culture but living people Infected with a rabies-like virus. * Some Common Infected in Left 4 Dead 2 seems to be a bit rotten in the face as if they are really dead and are decaying. It is possible that this is another level of the infection (aside from the Special Infected). * Children and animals have yet to be seen in the ranks of the Infected. The most likely reason is that if children and animals were in the game, that would mean the player can kill children and animals, which would raise ethical concerns and cause huge controversy. In game speculation include that it is possible that The Infection is too strong for children and animals, so they die instead of turning into Infected, although birds can be heard in Death Toll, Blood Harvest, and The Sacrifice, crickets can be heard during Dark Carnival, and the barking of dogs can be heard at the begining of the trailer for Left 4 Dead 2. And in some campaigns, birds can be seen flying (Rochelle claims that the virus is spread through mammals, just like Rabies, so birds would not be affected). It may also be that there are various animals that are akin to the Survivors in terms of having an immunity to or simply carry the virus which could explain the reason for the cows in Swamp Fever being burnt. Other possible explanations could be the Infected have either killed most of them. However, in Blood Harvest, Dark Carnival, and Swamp Fever dead cows can be seen with the skin removed around their face, indicating a rabies test. The lack of the bodies of children could also be that any Survivors saw it appropriate to take the time and give children an appropriate burial, or that they are just removed from sight to not demoralize people. A more brash or radical explanation would be that the Infected cannibalize one another or dead corpses which would remove any corpses from sight, there is numerous evidence to the contrary in-game however such as piles of untouched corpses throughout The Parish Campaign. * Sometimes, a glitch occurs where Infected are standing stationary with their arms parallel at 90º (reference position), these Infected can be killed but ragdoll physics do not take effect. Also these glitched Infected can stop Survivors from moving and so it has been seen that Survivors can be trapped by these glitched Infected. To combat this you must restart the server upon which you are playing, or use explosive measures to get past them. ** A second glitch can occur when one tosses a Pipe bomb, such as throwing one towards a horde, and occasionally some Infected may stop moving and glide back and forth, but you are still capable of killing them. ** In Left 4 Dead 2, sometimes it's possible for the Infected to glitch while trying to climb a pole (either a lamp post or one of the poles in Dark Carnival). The Infected would become completely still and slowly inch up the pole. They will return to normal once they reach the top, or are shot and killed. * Sometimes, Common Infected can get stuck in objects, such as tables or forklifts, and become invulnerable to melee attacks and must be shot to be killed. * Found in the sound files are clips titled to be belonging to a sort of Infected dog. This could possibly have been a scrapped feature or plans for a future addition. During the 4th chapter of Blood Harvest, it should be noted that howling can be heard in the background, most likely produced from these sound files. However, there is a strong possibility that the file could have simply been applied to the various ambience that can be heard throughout the campaigns made by idle Infected. * The voices and sounds of many of the Common Infected and some of the Special Infected (the Smoker, Boomer, and Hunter) were performed by vocalist Mike Patton who also did the voice of GLaDOS' Anger Core in ''Portal''; (in fact, some Common Infected voices are simply reused from the Anger Core) additional voices were voiced by Fred Tatasciore and Dee Bradley Baker. * When the Infected are summoned in the finales you hear a scream from them. That sound is a mix of two sounds that can be found in the Half-Life sound folder called "the_horror1" and "the_horror2". * Whenever Common Infected are burned in Left 4 Dead 2 (excluding CEDA Worker Infected), their bodies gain a new texture effect to make them looked charred. * In Left 4 Dead, the Common Infected do not have pupils. In Left 4 Dead 2, they seem to have developed reflective areas in the rear portions of the eyes, which glow when you shine the flashlight on them, such as in canines or felines, known as tapetum lucidum. * One of the symptoms right before turning into a Common Infected is possibly getting cold, as the helicopter pilot states he is getting really cold before the events of Crash Course, in which he turns into an Infected. This could be caused by the thinning of the victim's blood, which is probably why the Infected and dead bodies have faded skin colors. * There is an unused gore effect featuring a gigantic slash completely down the Common Infected's spine. It is possible that this would've been used should the axe had kept its overhead downwards slash and was used on a Common Infected's back. (The animation for fire axe swinging downwards still exists in the viewmodel's animations.) * In the new Left 4 Dead 2 DLC, The Passing, the Common Infected gain two new models. Models for the Midnight Riders fans and models for "formal" looking Infected. * Sometimes, Common Infected will attack the ending safe room door even when the Survivors are right next to it. This occours mostly when three out of all the Survivors are outside the saferoom and the fourth is hiding somewhere like behind the warehouse shelves in the end of No Mercy's The Apartment * In Left 4 Dead 2, a Common Infected would usually die when its head is exploded by a gun like a shotgun or a Magnum. However, on extremely rare cases, it will remain alive without its head and will continue attacking the Survivor headless (more common in the Mutation Headshot! as the Commons only die from headshots, decapitations, burning or explosions). This is most likely unintended, however, as a headshot is supposed to be fatal. This most likely is a hit recognition issue. * However there are sound effects that resemble bloody gurgling sounds which are unique to headless Infected. * There are no obese Common Infected. This could possibly be from the Infection speeding up their metabolism or heart rate, thus burning up all the body fat. Or possibly that they become Boomers if they are at a certain size or body shape. * It is possible to kill a Common Infected just by jumping off a higher ledge and landing on its head. ** You can also kill a Common Infected by standing on them somehow. For example, it is possible to run over a Common Infected lying down and kill them without the Survivor or Common Infected realizing, though this is hard to do due to the fact the Infected are often alerted of your presence before you can get that close. One method of getting close is to switch off flashlights before approaching the Infected. ** Sometimes by standing over ladders, one can ensure no Common Infected can emerge from there. For example, in the car impound lot where all the alarmed cars are in The Parish. If one stands over the manhole while the horde is alerted, any Common Infected coming from the sewers will be stopped by the Survivor up top. Once they hit the Survivor, they will either die as if being shot or fall back down into the sewers to try and climb up again. ** With a carefully timed jump and a teammate covered in bile, one can run across the heads of the Infected and use them like a bridge. However you can only do this for a short while, since you start to slowly fall after about two steps, and will collide with another Common Infected eventually. * Originally when in Versus mode the player was able to take control of a Common Infected while waiting to respawn after being killed as a Special Infected. This was scrapped as it was deemed too difficult for many players to attack the Survivors as they were always competing against AI controlled Infected. * Many finales, such as the No Mercy campaign, do not have a clear reason as to why the Infected come. There is nothing that makes a noise to attract the Infected. It is possible that they can detect radio frequencies, and are attracted to the voices of the Survivors. As to how ''they get there, they probably follow the frequency to the source, and they attack whoever is unlucky enough to be there at the time. This would be backed up due to Internet not working as well as mobile phones. ** It has also been suggested by the helicopter pilot that it's like they can sense hope, much like animals can "smell" fear. It's unlikely that he was being entirely serious, though. * In the ''Left 4 Dead 2 port of No Mercy, only the hospital patients from the first game appear among the horde of Common Infected (sadly and for unknown reasons, no surgeons or nurses do) though with far less frequency and lack of new gore effects but with the better shadows. Unlike their behaviors in Left 4 Dead, their limbs cannot be severed and their heads can be blown off with any weapon (again, also lacking the new effects). And unlike Left 4 Dead 2, knocking its head off will not produce a severed head in contrast to Left 4 Dead 2's Common Infected. However cutting its head off with slashing weapons like the Katana will make a severed head appear, but needs luck as the patient hasn't got any new gore effects, yet. ** The original Common Infected models and textures exist in the game files in left4dead2_dlc3, however they are only used as ragdolls because they use a lot more memory, have strange colors on some areas, square shadows and lack the other features the new Infected possess (better gore effects, gradients and so on). The "Infected Suit guy" still appears in the population.txt under "test_common_male_suit", but again, lacks gore effects etc.. * There is a glitch when you shoot off the Infected's arms off, and it is still living, it will attack you and deal damage, though it has no arms to attack you with. Gallery File:Infected.png|Early Common Infected artwork. File:InfectedScan.jpg|Artwork of Common Infected. File:zombief.png|A female Infected. File:zombiem_1.png|An Infected in a military uniform. File:zombieair_1.png|An Infected luggage handler. File:zombiepilot.png|An Infected airplane pilot. File:zombien.png|An Infected nurse. File:zombiepat.png|An Infected hospital patient. File:Aus_may_have_been_right.jpg|The damage caused by a Shotgun of any kind on a Common Infected's back. File:Screenshot01.jpg|Common Infected in the rain. 66787_Left4Dead2ThePassing-Screenshot-10.jpg|A mass horde awaiting the reluctant Survivors in The Passing media_288x288.jpg|A Common Infected close-up from Left 4 Dead 2. References External Links * http://www.valvesoftware.com/publications/2010/GDC10_ShaderTechniquesL4D2.pdf - Extra information on the designing of the Common Infected Category:The Infected Category:Left 4 Dead Category:Left 4 Dead 2